Every Monday I plan to share with you an excerpt from ‘Meditations’, and discuss the continued relevance of Marcus Aurelius’ work.  Today, I quote from Book Twelve, Paragraph One.

All the blessings which you pray to obtain hereafter could be yours today, if you did not deny them too yourself.  You have only to have done with the past altogether, commit the future to providence, and simply seek to direct the present hour aright into the paths of holiness and justice: holiness, by a loving acceptance of your apportioned lot, since Nature produced it for you and you for it: justice, in your speech by a frank and straightforward truthfulness, and in your acts by a respect for law and for every man’s rights.  Allow yourself, too, no hindrance from the malice, misconceptions or slanders of others, nor yet from any sensations this fleshly frame may feel; its afflicted part will look to itself.  The hour of your departure draws near; it will but forget all else and pay sole regard to the helmsman of your soul and the divine spark within you – if you will but exchange your fear of having to end your life some day for a fear of failing even to begin it on nature;s true principles – you can yet become a man, worthy of the universe that gave you birth, instead of a stranger in your own homeland, bewildered by each day’s happenings as though by wonders unlooked for, and ever hanging upon this one or the next.

 What Marcus Aurelius is saying here is that everyone has the power within them to achieve all that they want to achieve.  We should ignore the malice, misconceptions or slanders of others, and focus on what we can do to achieve our dreams.  As Eleanor Roosevelt so eloquently stated, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  Ignore the doubters and the critics; and stay true to the twin ideals of holiness (appreciation and gratitude for everything you have) and justice (be honest and act with integrity); and you will live a noble, and rewarding, life.

People often remark that I am so lucky to live the life that I do – a life with a good job, good relationships, and full of exciting experiences and travel.  This statement irritates me to no end.  It is as if everything in my life has been handed to me on a silver platter.  And when I respond that luck has nothing to do with the life that I lead, that it is all down to working hard and working smart, people look at me like I have just kicked their cat across the room.  As if the mere mention of “hard work” is a gross insult on them and their entire existence.  It is a strange phenomenon to observe such a reaction.  Why is it that the concept, “working hard and working smart leads to success”, is such a difficult one for people to grasp?

The bottom line is this: If you work hard; work with passion, determination, and enthusiasm; and work towards clearly defined goals; then there is no reason for not being able to live the life that you want to live.  The problem is, many people sit around and wait for their life to improve without taking any active steps towards their goals.  It is the lottery mentality – one day I will win the lottery and my life will be amazing.  But, you do not end up winning the lottery and your life continues to be mired in mediocrity.  Sitting on the couch dreaming of a better life will not change anything unless you are prepared to get off the couch and work towards creating that better life.

Take a long hard look at your life right now.  Can you honestly say that you are doing everything you can to work towards creating your dream life?

• What kind of life do you want to live? The first step to creating your dream life is to have a clear idea what that life looks like.  How much money do you want? What kind of job do you want? Are you more interested in travelling or building a home for your family?  The more clear you are as to the life you want, the easier you will find motivation to bring that life into existence.
• How hard are you working? If you are simply putting in the 9-5 shift and then going home and watching TV then you will not move beyond where you currently are.  There is a saying that I have become particularly fond of these last few months and that is that “sleep is for people who are broke”.  People who are determined to achieve a particular goal, or create a particular lifestyle, will often forgo sleep in order to succeed.  Now, this is an extreme example – sleep is a wonderful thing, but this leads on to the next point.
• You have to be prepared to sacrifice things now in order to create the life that you want.  Only, you cannot view this step as a sacrifice.  Giving up sleep is, on one hand a sacrifice, yet on the other it is a way to get more out of every day.  I passed on a lot of sleep whilst I was at University, sometimes going days on end with only 1-2 hours rest in order to get through the work that needed to be done.  Was I going above and beyond what was required? Yes.  But graduating with Honours made it all worthwhile in the long run.
• You will know by now that I am a firm believer in doing more than the bare minimum.  If you want to level up your life, focus on improving 1% each and every day.  There is always something extra that you can be doing to improve yourself and every 1% you improve will take you closer to your dream life.

In the developed world, everyone has the potential to life the life that they want to if they have the determination and drive to work hard and work smart. Most of the people who tell me I am lucky do so because they want desperately to believe the excuse that the reason their life sucks is because they are not lucky.  Ultimately, most are simply lazy.  I have worked damn hard to create the life that I live, and I am nowhere near where I want my life to ultimately be.  Even now, it is a work in progress and I am committed to improving 1% each and every day.  This is why I am writing a LLM Thesis this year, why I am currently learning 2 languages, and why I have cut back on my spending these last 6 months to build a savings fund and pay down my debt.

I am writing this post at 2am.  What are you doing to create your dream life?

Do you wake up every morning inspired and full of energy or does the prospect of the morning wake up call fill you with dread?

Do you aspire to get the most out of every day or do you drift from day-to-day following the same old routine?

Do you want to make a substantial contribution to society or are you content watching life pass you by?

When was the last time you took a really big risk?

Have you ever taken a really big risk?

Do you want more from your life?

If you are not happy with your life, do you really expect better things to come without change?

Do you believe that you deserve to live your dream and have it all, whatever that means to you?

Are you prepared to do what it takes in order to live your dream life?

Are you prepared to sacrifice in order to live your dream life?

Is it even a sacrifice when the rewards are so much greater than the sacrifice itself?

Do you even know what it is you want to achieve in your lifetime?

Everyone has within them the potential for greatness.

Everyone has within them the potential to succeed.

Everyone has within them the potential to live their dream life.

Those who succeed refuse to sit on the sidelines.

They refuse to be second-best.

They refuse to let the bastards get them down.

They refuse to accept a life of mediocrity and disappointment. 

It is never too late.

Believe that you deserve to live your dreams.

All it takes is action.

Dare To Dream!

Enter the 15 minute reading experience.  With this simple technique you can cut down your reading time while still ensuring that you absorb as much of the relevant information from a text as possible.  We lead busy lives, and it is impossible to read everything that we want to read.  But by using this method, you can find time in even the busiest of days to complete a book from cover to cover.

How Does It Work?

The name of the method highlights its simplicity.  Select a book that you are interested in reading but have not had the time to yet and sit down with the aim of reading it in its entirety in 15 minutes.  The aim is not to read every word in the book, but rather to take a more active approach to your reading and draw out the key concepts.  As such, this method really only works well when reading non-fiction books.  Novels are best left to be read at a leisurely pace as you allow yourself to be immersed in the world created by the author.  Non-fiction books, on the other hand, are designed to be conduits of knowledge - and the extent of the knowledge that you extract from any given non-fiction book is completely up to you.

Now, 15 minutes is not a lot of time.  In fact, it may take you two or three attempts before you have refined the technique to the point where you can comfortable read a book within the 15 minutes.  The more you practice reading in such a condensed time period, the more efficient you become at it and, subsequently, the more information you will be able to take away from any given session.  A successful 15 minute reading experience is one whereby you can quickly identify the key concepts that the author is presenting in the book, mentally highlight key passages of information, and identify 5-10 new pieces of information.  Even when you read a book from cover to cover, within one week of completion you would likely have forgotten over 80% of the content.  Unless you make detailed notes as you read, or have he ability to soak up information in your brain like a sponge does water, conventional reading is hardly an efficient use of your time.

Efficient Reading

Not only is this technique a great way of absorbing information much more efficiently, but you will also begin to read differently.  Gone are the days of conventional reading when you read one word after another, one line after the next, from page to page and chapter to chapter.  Instead, allow your eyes to scan over the page in a circular motion and let the text speak to you.

The human brain has an enormous capacity to absorb information at a much faster rate than we can mentally read yet we persist with the conventional method of reading one word at a time.  As you scan the pages, rather than read the pages, your subconscious mind will quickly identify the key concepts and information that it finds most relevant and highlight that for you.  In this way, your subconscious mind acts as a filter and highlights the key passages that you should read in their entirety.  It will feel strange at first, but as you grow more comfortable with the technique, and accept that it is folly to attempt to memorize every single piece of information that you read, this technique will provide a more enjoyable reading experience. Guaranteed.

The Final Step: Creating A Summary

Reading, however, is not enough.  After completing a book using this method, sit down and spend the next 5 minutes writing a brief summary (aim for approximately one page) of what you have just read, including the key concepts, noting the key phrases, and including the 5-10 pieces of new information that you have learnt.  in the space of 20 minutes you have read and summarized a book and expanded your knowledge in the process.

Go Big or Go Home

Starting Over

These are the three themes of the re-launch of my 12 Projects in 12 Months.  I first published this list back in June 2011 with great gusto and ambition.  But as the months went on this soon gave way to a lack of motivation, or what is more accurately defined as laziness.  Caught up in the whirlwind of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and my innate desire to sit on the couch watching American sitcoms I failed in my first attempt to take action on these 12 Projects.

But with a New Year comes new opportunities.  Every day is an opportunity to start again.  Yes, you may fail once – or even many times – but failure should not mean that you give up.  Once you give up on your dreams, you give up on your life.   The shame is not in the failure, the shame is in giving up.  That is why I have chosen to start over today.  I believe in this project, and 2012 is the time for us all to begin taking action towards realising our dreams.

I have been reading a lot of wonderful personal development blogs these past few months, and the one that has stood out the most is the Tyler Tervooren’s Advanced Riskology and his 1% Club.  Essentially, the 1%  Club is an ambitious list of experiences and projects that only 1% of the world’s population will ever achieve.  Tyler is creating an amazing community of people who are getting out in the world, pushing the boundaries and truly experiencing life.  I have drawn inspiration from his approach and today I am re-launching the 12 Projects in 12 Months initiative.

12 Projects in 12 Months is a road-map for spreading the  Our World message and taking active steps to making this world a better place.  Because, at the end of the day, writing alone can never compare to taking direct action.

The 12 Projects

Some of these are big, some of them relate more to me on a personal level.  Each is selected with a view towards making a small difference towards the world we live in.

1: Write the Our World Manifesto, a guide to living life true to the philosophy of Our World, that this is Our World to live, Our World to design, and Our World to share.

2: Commit to writing at least one article for Our World each week during 2012 touching on the themes of Humanity, Personal Development, and Economic Development.

3: Continue to make loans through Kiva.org (see article here), and develop a $1,000 Our World community lending fund.

4: Eliminate all household waste through recycling and smart purchasing.

5: Research and locate sustainable clothing manufacturers/sellers from whom to purchase new clothes. (For example, see the work being undertaken by the ladies over at All of Us Revolution.)

6: Identify, and undertake, 50 different methods of helping out and making a difference in my local community.

7: Develop an online forum to debate ideas relevant to the Our World mission and to generate action at the local level.

8: Develop and further experience meditation as a way of achieving inner peace and removing any potential negative energy that I might generate from the shared consciousness.

9: Open my home to couchsurfers and share in this great tradition of meeting new people and experiencing new cultures.

10: Learn to speak Māori so as to better serve my clients and help bridge the divide that sometimes exist between Māori and non-Māori in New Zealand.

11: Learn to speak German, the native language of my girlfriend and her family.  Language can be the doorway to a deeper understanding of people and communities.

12: Establish a community lending organisation to assist Maori landowners in unlocking the economic potential of their land.  This project has long been a passion of mine and this is the year to set about making it happen.  For a brief background analysis of the problem, see my comments over at Māori Law and Politics.  And for an overview of my earlier research on this you can download this paper.

This project is my way of making a difference in 2012.  What is yours?

Work = Freedom

This became my mantra during 2011. Work truly does equal freedom. The fact that I love my job places me firmly in the minority, the fact that my jobs allows me the freedom to work from home and to set my own hours makes me one of the luckiest persons in the world. The benefits from the absence of a daily commute alone have been outstanding, by not having to commute to and from work every day, I have freed up a total of 10 hours each week to use however I choose. It is the kind of freedom that comes after 13 years of hard work, the formation of strong working relationships, and a whole lot of good fortune.

A Whole New World

With increased work flexibility came increased travel opportunities. During 2011 I headed offshore on four occasions, twice to Europe and twice to Australia, visiting an impressive 11 countries (Germany (twice), England (twice), Wales, Japan, Australia (twice), Ukraine, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Switzerland), and exploring a large tract of New Zealand’s North Island. In total, I spent 30% of the year away from home. It was a year of fantastic travel experiences and I aim to carry that forward into 2012.

What continues to surprise me is how many barriers people put up when the issue of travel comes up. When I talk about my trips and my experiences, the most often comment I hear is that “I would love to travel, but …”, and what follows is a plethora of excuses that are often no bar to travel at all but self-constructed barriers. I sense a lot of fear in people about the prospect of travel, and excuses such as lack of money is often used to hide their fear behind. Yes, travelling to foreign lands can be daunting but that is what makes the experience that much more rewarding. In June I spent 4 days in Kyiv visiting my girlfriend’s family and it was one of the most amazing trips I have ever done. Stop using money or work as an excuse and get out there and plan your dream holiday! Never before have we been able to see as much of the world as we can today, and at prices that are affordable to almost everyone in western society.

2012 Plan

One aspect of my life that did not go so well during 2011 was my overall health and well-being.  I over-indulged in too much good food, and spent far too little time outside moving and exercising. After starting 2011 strongly with a meditation course in London, and a strong focus on exploring my spirituality, I lapsed back into bad habits and let matters slide over the course of the year. The effects of these actions flowed through into every aspect of my life. Your overall health and well-being is the most important aspect of your life. The importance of this cannot be understated. That is why I have made my main focus of 2012 to be the improvement of my overall health and well-being. Nutrition, exercise, spirituality, and wonderful experiences will define 2012 and I have set a large number of goals in this area.

Writing is another large theme of 2012. Last year, while I neglected my writing for this project, I was building a large following on a site discussing issues of Māori Law and Politics. The New Zealand general election was an important occasion and a strong Māori voice was required in order to fully debate the issue from a Māori perspective. This year, while I am committed to building on the success of Māori Law and Politics, I am also committing to furthering my discussion on Our World on issues regarding humanity, personal development and economic development. I aim to post a new article at least every Monday this year, and bring great new content for you to enjoy, consider, and discuss. To kick things off, I will be re-launching the 12 Projects next week and will follow through on those during 2012.

Ensuring Success

I am embarking on a very ambitious list of projects in 2012. Alongside my writing and work here, and on Māori Law and Politics, I am also working full-time on historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, completing a LLM degree, tutoring stage I law at the University of Auckland, learning two languages, travelling (Australia, Europe and South America with more to be added as the year progresses), as well as plenty of smaller goals along the way. With so much going on, how will I ensure success in 2012?

The answer is simpler than many would appreciate. It is a combination of good planning, hard work, and discipline. Once you have your plan in place the only thing stopping you from success is yourself. Stop making excuses, get out of your own way, believe in your ability to succeed, and make the commitment to your dreams each and every day.

Here is to a prosperous and enjoyable 2012!

Humanity

At the core of a peaceful and prosperous society is humanity.  Humanity is an acknowledgement that we are all born of the same cloth, and we are all sharing the wonders of this world together.  It is for that reason that I dedicated 2011 to Building a Better World.   Nothing better encompasses my love of humanity more than the joy that comes from those moments of random kindness and interaction, as I write in The Art of Humanity.

At the very heart of humanity is an appreciation of the shared characteristics of human beings.  As I explore in On Race and Nationality, these twin ideas are nothing more than artificial human constructs.  However, there remains an attitude of superiority among western nations, something I picked up on in my travels to South Africa in 2010.  I also discussed this in my article on A Post-Colonial Deconstruction of the FIFA World Cup Vote.

Personal Development

The bulk of writing on Our World deals with issues of personal development.  As I grow, I am continually learning about human nature and exploring new methods and new ideas for living a prosperous life.   It all starts with the idea of living A Meaningful Life.  But before you can live a meaningful life, you need to answer the following question: What’s Your Mission?  What about work-life balance?  The Four Burners Theory has something to say on that.

On your journey of personal development, Intellectual Honesty is crucial to success.  And try not to get caught up in distraction and become part of The iPod Generation.  Nor should you forget your personal life either – adapting to the challenges of Modern Love and Living Multiple Lives will test even the most determined person.  If all else fails, reflect on how far you have come, and take stock through A Message to My Future Self, and relax, unwind, and travel!

There will be occasions when the going gets tough.  Life is not easy, but with some Endurance, a touch of Inspiration, and a little Discipline, you will find your way through.

And if all that fails to provide you with enough insight to further your personal development, then check out the words of wisdom from two people who are living the dream, working and travelling their way around the world.  The king of travel-hacking and lifestyle design, Chris Guillebeau; and cubicle dweller turned world explorer, Nomadic Chick.

Economic Development

With a background in commerce, and a keen interest in the economic development of indigenous peoples around the world, I read widely on the topic of economic development.  Strong economics can change the world, and I set forth two highly progressive ideas to address inequality within our current economic system in a How to Change the World series.  The first two articles cover the concepts of Fluid Shares and Micro Finance.  Talking about micro-finance, check out my experience investing with Kiva.

Looking a bit closer to home, I have commented on the Economic Misfortunes experienced here in New Zealand over the past year, although my Societal Advancement Theory holds that despite the doom and gloom that currently exists around the world, we are actually on a path of constant advancement and this is set to continue.  However, some redesign of the economic system is required, and I spell out one possible change in my article on Communal Capitalism.

12 Projects/12 Months

And finally, check out the ambitious list of projects that I am working on over the coming year.

Thomas Edison

Sometime between the ages of 12 and 15 I decided to stop drinking carbonated drinks.  The exact age that I made this decision is not important but I can still remember the day clearly enough.  It was a typical Christmas dinner at my Aunty’s place, I had just drunk my third bottle of cola in the space of an hour and I remember thinking that this cannot be good for me.  I was too young to know, or even understand, the science behind sugar’s effect on the body yet somehow my mind made the connection between drinking these sugary drinks and my health and weight issues at the time.

Discipline as a Source of Transformation

So I decided to quit.  Then and there I told myself that if I could make it through the next 100 days without having another drink of cola then I would break the habit for life.  Each night before I went to bed I would mark off on my calendar the number of days since I last indulged and as the numbers started to grow so too did my motivation to reach that 100 day mark.  Once I saw 20 days on there I knew that it would be such a wasted effort to give up now that the next 80 days flew by.

It helped that my goal was being driven by a bigger purpose.  I had recently started swimming and found that it was a sport that I did not suck at.  I had played rugby during primary school but could never make it into the first team in a school of 100 children (50% being girls), and I was always coming last during the school cross-country runs.  But swimming I could do.  Quitting the un-healthy drinking habits was an action I could take that would make me a better swimmer and I pursued that with a sheer single-minded obsession.

I had learned early on in life of the importance of discipline.  Discipline is the key factor in success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that success in life has nothing to do with intelligence, or luck, or skill.  Yes, each of those elements will no doubt assist you in deciding what you want to pursue. But success only comes to those who are disciplined enough to go out and consistently work towards their goals.  Over the course of five years, through hard-work and discipline, I transformed myself from the overweight kid who came last every year in the school cross-country run to a multiple regional and national swimming champion.

Discipline + Hard Work = Success

In many respects my efforts to grow this site have failed to date because of a lack of discipline.  It is not through lack of ideas, or even lack of quality content.  The feedback I receive is always overwhelmingly positive.  My downfall here is my lack of discipline.  I have not yet been able to consistently sit down and write.  The mission of this site is something that a lot of people can buy into.  I can see that and I know that you see it as well else you would not be reading this.  As a teenager I successfully applied discipline to an area of my life and achieved an amazing result.  When I hit my early 20′s I was able to apply that same discipline towards the completion of a law degree.  It is a proven formula.  Discipline + Hard Work = Success.  Perhaps it is time to start paying more attention to my younger self.

It is clear to many that the current situation is unsustainable.  Without systemic change, inequality will worsen and the gains of the last century could be reversed.  Last year I wrote an article on an idea that has the potential to change the world. The concept of fluid shares, to briefly recap, advocates the equal distribution of wages throughout an organisation from the CEO to the cleaners. It recognises that everyone employed by an organisation plays a crucial role in the success of that organisation, and brings a level of equality to employee remuneration sadly lacking in today’s corporate world. Let’s look at an example:

Fluid Shares Revisited

Company A employs 15 people – A CEO, four supervisors, and ten shop-floor workers. The CEO earns $500,000 a year; the supervisors $100,000; and the shop-floor workers $40,000. The CEO drives a BMW, lives in a multi-million dollar home and sends his kids to private schools. The shop-floor workers have a car made in the last century and spend all their available money on food and clothing for their children. The total wage bill for Company A totals $1.3 million

Company A then decides to implement fluid shares. It cut is wage bill to $1.2 million and now each employee earns $80,000 each year. Ten workers have seen their incomes double, providing much-needed financial security for themselves and their families. Four workers have experienced a small drop in salary, but still enjoy an enjoyable life, while only one employee (the CEO) has experienced a substantial drop in income. He decided to leave the company. The managers grumbled but eventually conceded that the scheme had some merit and, being in the midst of a recession, decided that a pay cut was better than being unemployed. The shop-floor workers went home to their families with a sense of pride and optimism that they had never felt before.

Of course, attracting qualified people to take the position of CEO was a problem. Many other companies in the industry offer much higher salaries than Company A and many people who had the requisite experience for the job refused to work for only $80,000 a year when they could be earning $500,000. The owners quickly realised that most people in upper management are only interested in one thing – money. The industry, the product, and the people were secondary considerations. Their business would only flourish when the person in charge cared first and foremost about the business and not the pay cheque. In a world full of highly intelligent people, finding someone who believed in a more equitable distribution of wealth and opportunity was not a problem.

Communal Capitalism

Do not get me wrong, I am not advocating for a massive, state-driven, redistribution of wealth. The key tenet for the success of fluid shares is that it is driven by the owners of a company, and therefore has by-in from them, and their employees. It only works when everyone is on the same page and working towards creating a prosperous company where everybody benefits from that prosperity – not just those at the top. Yes, it is communal – it is based around the idea that society benefits when everyone benefits. But at its heart are the very capitalistic ideas of free enterprise, free association, and individual effort. Each member of the team knows that they will prosper only if the business prospers, so the incentive for productivity is maintained. What this example does illustrate is that, at least in the Western World, there is plenty of wealth for everyone.